Two representatives from "The Learned Republic" of the kingdom of Nepal, Shishir Subbha and Pancha N.
Maharjan, have accepted to present psychology and political science in the two following articles, and thus
elucidate aspects of academic history and everyday-life situations in Nepal.
Psychology in Nepal
by Shishir Subba,
senior lecturer at Central Department of Psychology,
Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu.
The history of psychology in Nepal can be traced from 1947 when it was introduced at Tri-Chandra
College, Kathmandu. At that time Tri-Chandra was the only college in Nepal and was affiliated to one of
the Indian Universities. Psychology was introduced at the intermediate level as part of philosophy. When
Tribhuvan University (TU) was established in 1959, other colleges also came into existence. By 1966, four
more colleges introduced psychology as an academic subject at either the Intermediate or Bachelor level.
The first generation of psychology teachers was educated at Indian Universities. As a relatively new
discipline with a small number of manpower, psychology grew only slowly and since the 1960s, further
psychology departments have not been established in colleges in Nepal. Outside the Kathmandu Valley,
psychology was introduced only in two colleges altogether. The masterlevel started in 1980. At present,
psychology is taught at eight campuses. In the following paragraphs, I will briefly deal with the problems
that psychology faces and the future of psychology in Nepal.
The growth of psychology as an academic and professional discipline in Nepal has been slow and has been
set back to merge in the mainstream of the national development. Compared to sociology and
anthropology, psychology emerged earlier as an academic subject in Nepal, but remained docile in its
intellectual exercise. Sociology and anthropology programmes started from 1982 in TU, and research
activities by both Nepalese and foreign scholars have been going on since the 1950s (Bista, 1987;
Bhattachan, 1987).
By the time sociology and anthropology became academic subjects in Nepal, these disciplines were well
prepared to be relevant to the social and national need of the nation. Contrary to this, psychology suffered
from an inability to address the national need. The first generation of teachers - trained in the West or India
- had their own priorities on academic curricula that were influenced by their respective training and these
priorities were in many ways not parallel to the national need. The curricula and prescribed books were
Western in orientation and the Western perspective on psychology heavily influenced the teachers.
Textbooks and reference books prescribed were either American or Indian with Western orientation. And
even in the latest period, this influence can be plainly observed in research activities. In the books and
articles published by Nepalese psychologists, the western research works are heavily cited. In a recently
published book by Regmi (1994) no citation of findings by other Nepalese researchers are made except in
one chapter dealing with the research history in Nepal. Of the total 256 reference cited, 18 Nepalese and 25
co-studies are cited and recited and most of them are from the author himself. Very few Asian and African
studies are cited. A similar pattern is seen in articles published by Nepalese psychologists in Western
journals. A race to merge in the world psychological community by publishing researchfindings in
international journals is also seen. The priorities of the nature of research are naturally shaped more by the
preferences of the international journals than by the national context. Textbooks written in Nepal also do
not cite the research conducted in Nepal. In fact, bookwriting following the western framework is a general
practice among Nepalese scholars despite the fact that such a pattern does not reflect the social and cultural
reality of the Nepalese people (Subba, 1994). Despite the anthropological writings about patterns of
Nepalese socialisation and the situation of children and childhood (Bista, 1993, Khatry, 1986) Nepalese
psychologists follow Western patterns of child rearing practices in their curricula and teaching. Many
unadopted standardised psychological tests and inventories are taught in academic sectors and practised in
applied sectors. Thus, many concepts and issues that were raised in the academic curricula were irrelevant
to Nepalese setting. Group prejudice and discrimination is followed with the parallel concept of race
relationship whereas the Nepalese social structure and discrimination in relation to caste system and
marginalised ethnic groups are almost untouched.Social relevance of psychology is not yet explored.
Nepalese research activities are also shaped by Western influence. Research activities in psychology started
much later though first research work in psychology was published in 1955 (Regmi, 1994). In the eighties
some psychologists started doing research. However heavy dependency on research tools developed in the
Western World continued. Most of the research work are replicative and cross cultural in orientation but
much effort appeared to fulfil the theoretical framework of other countries. The native priorities and
relevance were almost overlooked. In the Nepalese social science community, questions about the use of
some social science methods in Nepal's development planning were raised by Campbell, Shrestha and
Stone (1979). However, psychologists have a general tendency to accept the readymade psychological tools
and inventories uncritically. The appropriateness of these methods in terms of applicability, reliability and
validity are yet to become explored.
Psychologists are working in insularity. Recently, in the developing countries questions are being raised
about the relevance of many Western psychological theories and methods. Western psychology is regarded
as readymade intellecutal package imported from the West (Sinha, 1986), or a "pale copy of Western
psychology" (Sinha, 1993) that was transferred to the third world countries as a part of the general process
of transfer of knowledge and technology. A problem of "dual perception" and "parallel growth" is also felt
(Moghaddam and Taylor, 1985; Moghaddam, 1993). It is criticized that general psychology is both "culture
blind" and "culture bound". The bottom line of the argument is that serious doubts are raised on scientific
ethnocentrism of Western psychology and emphasis is made that psychology should go native in order to
become relevant to the local setting. Third world psychologists are involved in developing indigenous
psychology. The approach is both emic and etic. The first process is developing indigenous psychology,
and cross-cultural psychology, in the second step, helps to identify the common elements which will later,
in the third stage, helps to shape the universal principal. In one sense, indigenous psychology appears
"culture bound" and the indigenous movement a reflection of identity crisis or reactions against mainstream
thought but when one looks at the system and reality of both "first world" and "third world" the sharp
difference appears. Third world needs and priorities are different than "first world" and psychology in many
third world countries is applied in the context of development and nation building process. Many third
world countries have some common issues like human resources, problem of achievement, motivation,
education, poverty, health and disease, and population (Ardila, 1993) that differ in priorities among
individual nations. Nepal, being a developing country, is a third world country with its own need, issues
and priorities. Developing indigenous psychology not only help to understand Nepalese psychology based
on Nepalese setting but also help immensely to use psychology in the developmental task.
As an academic and professional discipline, psychology in Nepal is suffering from a series of problems
such as failure to produce professional psychologists, lack of relevancy of psychology to national setting,
problem of implanted psychology, and lack of uniting centres to all psychologists (Subba, 1997). The
narcissistic confinement to limited disciplines without considering the national need has made psychology
self-limiting. Nepalese developmental issues and problems like mass illiteracy, malnutrition, general
poverty and deprivation, health and disease, child development, discrimination against women and
children, ethnic identities and castesystem and so on are almost left untouched by native psychologists. The
tendency to look West for inspiration, weak infrastructure, lack of fund for research and training, and
contact and cooperation with association and universities outside Nepal are some of the major problems
psychologists are facing. The number of highly educated psychology (post-graduate and above) manpower
is about one hundred in Nepal and only a few are involved in academic and non academic, semiprofessional field. Psychology is yet to establish as an active discipline.
Indigenization of psychology and an interdisciplinary approach will work as solutions for psychology to
become more relevant in national context and boost the discipline. A few good researchprojects have been
conducted by western scholars in Nepal and have added much in understanding native psychological
perspective. However, many areas are yet to be explored and understood. Interest in applying psychology
as a part of interdisciplinary approach in mental health areas has increased. Similarly, awareness of
applying psychological approaches in health areas has also increased. However, the vital aspect for the
thrust of indigenization of psychology is research and training but it is almost absent due to lack of funds
and trained manpower who can look at the national issue from native point of view.
References
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